Wrongful Convictions

Paper Summary:

The paper explores why somebody would confess to a crime they did not commit and identifies several types of people who falsely confess. The paper discusses how the criminal justice system tends to set the confession of the defendant as the most important and irreversible proof of guilt, ignoring evidence to the contrary, other statements and other possible suspects. The paper maintains that it is crucial for the police to closely follow the criminal procedure even when faced with a confession from the most likely suspect.

From the Paper:

"The English jurist William Blackstone once declared that it would be "better for ten guilty persons to escape than for one innocent to suffer" . The principle is still applicable today as wrongful convictions do so much damage and ruin so many lives. They can no longer be considered simple "regrettable anomalies " of a system that works properly. There are many factors leading to such unfortunate developments in a case out of which the most important are: insufficient, corrupted or false evidence, untrue witness statements, including confessions, biased evaluations and other unfortunate happenings. Wrongful convictions due to false confessions are a great problem that the criminal justice system has been and is still facing."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Warden, Rob, February 2002, FALSE CONFESSIONS and other contributing factors in wrongful murder convictions in Illinois since the William Heirens case, Retrieved on the 20th of February 2007, From - Centre on Wrongful Convictions: Northwestern Law, Available online at: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/documents/FalseConfRpt1.htm
• O'Connor, Tom, FALSE CONFESSION, WRONGFUL CONVICTION & EYEWITNESS ERROR, Forensic Psychology, Retrieved on the 20th of February, From: North Carolina Wesleyan College, Available online at: http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/psy/psylect06.htm
• Volokh, Alexander, 1997, n Guilty Men, Retrieved on the 20th of February 2007, 146 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 173, Available online at: http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm
• Marcellius Bradford, Innocence Project, Know the Cases, Retrieved on the 20th of February, Available online: http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/57.php

More papers on Wrongful Convictions:

• Persuasive Essay # 112996 : "Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Commissions"
• Essay # 39557 : "Wrongful Convictions"
• Essay # 102723 : "Wrongful Convictions"
• Article Review # 132580 : "Impressions, Accusations, and Wrongful Convictions"

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